A man set himself on fire at the headquarters of the Islamist Ennahda party in the Tunisian capital, Tunis. According to the official news agency TAP, the man was killed.

According to the Tunisian News Agency, 18 people were injured in the fire that broke out, including two high-ranking party members. Among them is the former Prime Minister Ali Al-Arayedh. He managed to escape the fire by jumping out of a window on the second floor and wounding him in the leg.

According to Ennahda, the man could have been a member of the party. He may have worked in the front office of the building.

Months of struggle for power

Ennahda has been in a deep crisis since President Kais Saied ousted Prime Minister Hicham Al-Mashishi after continuous demonstrations in July. Parliament was then suspended indefinitely. Saeed won the 2019 presidential election as an independent candidate. He had been fighting a power struggle with the party for months and felt compelled to take this step to restore calm in the country.

Said said he did not want to stage a coup, but many Tunisians saw it this way and took to the streets in the following months to protest the takeover. Saeed has since appointed a new government. It includes the first female prime minister in the Arab world, but parliament is still suspended.